When the Illinois State track and field team competed at the Big Blue Classic on the campus of Eastern Illinois two years ago, they had to contend with an overcast sky and cold temperatures.
After finishing the first day of competition Friday under sunshine and pleasant temperatures, the team is upbeat heading into Saturday, the final day of the meet. Tomorrows forecast calls for sunny skies and a temperature of 71 degrees and head coach Elvis Forde is anxious to get his team back into competition.
When the weather is nice, everyone is so much more excited about competing, Forde said. The weather looks to be on our side tomorrow and hopefully well get some more top performances and regional qualifiers.
Competing in the heptathlon for the first time in her collegiate career, Brittney Hourd began the days competition by winning the event with 4,435 points. Forde was pleased with the junior from University City, Mo., and feels that Hourd is going to be one of the top performers in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Brittney had a very remarkable performance in the heptathlon, Forde said. It was very encouraging to see her do well and I believe she will carry that performance over into the conference championships.
Betsy McDonald ran a personal best in the 5,000-meter run with a third place time of 17:35.56, while Anna Lovell was sixth in the javelin with a throw of 115-10.
On the mens side, Brian Krantz improved on his regional mark in the hammer by throwing two feet farther than his previous best and taking second with a throw of 193-11. Rhett Hillard was sixth in the hammer with a toss of 176-8, while Derek Sargent placed fourth in the javelin (181-4).
The mens 4x800 relay team of Joe Marcin, Geoff Houtman, Dan Tripp and Bronco Meeks also had a good showing Friday, taking second with a time of 7:29.94.
I was pleased to see Brian (Krantz) improve on his regional mark in the hammer, Forde said. The mens relay team had a very nice performance as well.
Saturdays events will conclude the Big Blue Classic. Field events get underway at 10 a.m. with the womens long jump, while running events start at 11 a.m. with the prelims of the mens 110-meter hurdles.
